


Be My Queen

by flipflop_diva



Category: Inhumans (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Arranged Marriage, Childhood Friends, Childhood Memories, F/M, Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2019-02-12 21:10:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12968484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flipflop_diva/pseuds/flipflop_diva
Summary: “Think about this.” Medusa’s voice was hard and stern. “Going through with this will mean putting our people through a war. Do you really want that? Do you really want to destroy Attilan?”“I have never wanted to destroy Attilan,” Maximus replied, his tone flat. “I have always wanted to make it better."“Then step aside. End this now. Let us go back to the way things were.”“I will never step aside. But I do have another proposal.”





	Be My Queen

**Author's Note:**

  * For [scribblemyname](https://archiveofourown.org/users/scribblemyname/gifts).



> Written for the Marvel is Marvel 2017 fest.
> 
> Thank you for your prompts, scribblemyname! I had fun imagining a different scenario for how things could have gone. I hope you enjoy!

_Crystal knew she was going to get them caught if she kept giggling, but she couldn’t help it. She pressed a hand over her mouth and glanced behind her to see if she could see him._

_The guards were pacing the hall, occasionally shooting a dismayed look in her direction. She was supposed to be waiting patiently — and quietly — for Medusa and Black Bolt to finish up with whatever it was they were doing, but Crystal was tired of waiting and tired of being quiet. She wanted to run, she wanted to play, and Maximus was the only one who ever played with her._

_She waited until the guards were across the hall, too far away to grab her, before she popped up from her spot behind a marble pillar and began running as fast as she could for the exit._

_Another giggle escaped her mouth as she heard footsteps trailing after her, and she sped up, soon breaking free of the palace and heading into the outdoors._

_Maximus kept pace with her, never quite catching her but never letting her lose him either. At one point, he reached for her, grazing her arm with his fingers, and she shrieked with laughter, running even faster._

_They ran and ran and ran, all around the palace, laughing and shouting, until they could no longer run. Crystal dropped to her knees, gasping for air, even as she giggled more at Maximus, who was also panting, his face red from exhaustion as he grinned at her._

_They had come to a stop on a ledge. Down below them, Crystal could see the people who worked in the mines moving around, all of them looking miserable and exhausted._

_Maximus saw her looking at them._

_“It’s not fair,” he said, and he sounded intense, like the way he did when he was scolding her for cheating on the games they played together. “That people without great powers are sentenced to do these kinds of jobs. We should all be equal.”_

_Crystal bobbed her head in agreement. That sounded good to her. Besides, she didn’t always understand the way their society seemed to work. “Because that’s how it is,” seemed to be Medusa’s favorite answer whenever she asked a question no one wanted to hear._

_“Someday we will rule Attilan!” Crystal declared, and then she giggled again at the thought. “I will be queen and you can be my king!”_

_She grinned at Maximus, who was looking at her in a different way than he ever had before._

_“Yes,” he said, before she climbed to her feet to turn around and run back home._

•••

**[Thirteen years later]**

“Think about this.” Medusa’s voice was hard and stern. “Going through with this will mean putting our people through a war. Do you really want that, Maximus? Do you really want to destroy Attilan?”

“I have never wanted to destroy Attilan,” Maximus replied, his tone flat. “I have always wanted to make it better. Ask Crystal."

Crystal looked down. A twinge of memory poked at her, and she knew he was telling the truth in his own way. But this was not the way to express that truth, and she knew he wouldn’t understand if she tried to explain.

Medusa did not seem to want to invoke her sister in anything. She was still talking.

“Then step aside. End this now. Let us go back to the way things were.”

“No! I will never step aside. I will never let things go back to the way they were.” Maximus paused, his eyes roaming over them all. When he spoke again, his voice was softer. “But I do have another proposal you may be interested in.”

Medusa’s expression said she was doubtful, but she gestured at him. “Go on.”

“We will share the crown.”

“The crown cannot be shared.”

“It can,” Maximus said. “If I am king. And Crystal — as my wife — is queen.”

There was silence. For one long agonizing moment. And then-

“What?” Crystal blinked at him, unsure if she had heard right. What Maximus had said … it wasn’t possible he had just said that.

“No,” Medusa said, her eyes narrowing instantly in fury, and Crystal’s heart dropped. She had heard right after all.

“No way!” Medusa said. Beside her, Black Bolt was gesturing wildly. Crystal could see Karnak staring at her in abject horror. Aurun, standing behind Maximus, was looking at him the same way.

Maximus, though, was looking straight at Crystal, in a way he hadn’t looked at her for years. She took a step back, feeling unnerved. 

“The people of Attilan want me as their king.” Maximus was talking to all of them, but he was still looking at Crystal. “Marry me and you can have an equal say in all of this. Your family …” Here he paused, casting scathing glances over Medusa, Black Bolt and Karnak. “Can all have positions of power. Everyone wins.”

“No!” Medusa said again.

“I …” Crystal stared at Maximus, mind spinning. 

“I will give you twelve hours to think about it,” Maximus said. “How this goes it up to you.”

He signaled to Auran then, before turning around and heading back inside.

•••

It had been eight hours since Maximus’ announcement and Medusa hadn’t calmed down at all. Neither had Black Bolt. Crystal had lost count of all the times her sister had proclaimed that she would not allow it and Black Bolt had gesticulated wildly. 

“I don’t understand why you’re not more upset,” Medusa said to her, after yet another angry outburst. “You can’t even be entertaining this idea.”

“If it’s the only way?” Crystal said. “If it will save our people and prevent war and destruction of the only home I have ever known?”

She didn’t say out loud the other things that had been going through her mind since they had retreated back to the bunker beneath the city. How once upon a time Maximus had been her best friend. How the one thing she was sure of was that Maximus wouldn’t hurt her. Not physically at least. How a marriage she didn’t want wouldn’t be the worst thing in the galaxy if it ensured that no one else would die, if it kept her family — and her people — safe.

“We will find another way,” Medusa was saying.

“What if there is no other way?”

“No.” Medusa shook her head. “Absolutely not. I will not allow you to sacrifice your life for something like this.”

Crystal stood up, ignoring her sister. “I need to see Maximus.”

•••

He was waiting for her in the throne room, sitting on the chair, fingers steepled beneath his chin, looking like he had expected this visit of hers all along.

She walked up to stand beside him, not willing to give him the satisfaction of treating her like one of his subjects at this moment. If he was offering to treat her as an equal, she wanted to see him prove it.

He waited for her to talk.

“Why are you doing this?” she said.

“To save Attilan, of course,” he replied smoothly.

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it.” She stared at him, looking him directly in the eyes, willing herself not to look down or away.

He stood up. She took a step backward before he could trod on her. To her surprise, he walked past her and over to one of the windows. She followed him, but at a distance.

He turned around to face her. “Do you remember when we were children?”

She frowned. “Yes. Of course.”

“After my parents died. And your parents died. And my brother and your sister didn’t have time for us.”

“They always had time for us,” she interrupted.

“No, they didn’t,” Maximus said. “But that’s not the point.”

“What is the point?”

“You were my only friend. My only real friend. And I was yours. You understood me more than anyone and I you.” His eyes shifted over her. “What happened?”

Crystal felt her hands involuntarily clench into fists. “You happened,” she almost hissed. “You wanted power more than you wanted to be my friend.”

“I wanted to save Attilan!”

“You wanted to save yourself!”

“I wanted you!”

Crystal took a step back. She felt winded, even though she hadn’t moved. She stared at Maximus, her heart in her throat.

“What?”

“I always wanted you,” he said.

Anger she didn’t expect washed over her. “So that’s what this is?” She waved her hand around, to indicate the situation they were in. “A way to _get_ me, when you were the one who threw me away?”

“This.” Maximus took a step toward her. “Is a business proposal. That I am making with you because you are still the only one on that side I can really stand. We were friends once. We can be again. We can be more than that this time. You might see I am not so bad.”

Crystal took a deep breath. “How do I know that I can trust you on this?”

“I will sign half the kingdom over to you. Before we are married. On the condition that we are married.”

“You know if you hurt anyone I love, I will kill you.”

Maximus held out a hand toward her. “I am not tricking you, Crystal. I want you to be my queen. I want us to rule Attilan together. I have always wanted that. You used to say you did, too. All you have to do is say yes.”

She kept her eyes on him. She had once dreamed, on long lonely days, of finding the perfect man. Of marriage. Of children. Of having a normal life. Not of marrying someone who had tried to kill her entire family.

Someone who had once been her friend. Someone who had once been her only friend. 

She closed her eyes, gave herself a moment to make peace with her decision and blinked them open once more.

“Fine,” she said. “I’ll be your queen.”

And she took his hand to seal the agreement.


End file.
